Updating The 2010 Book List

Ok, I was going to try and update my book list more regularly but that didn’t really happen. So, I am going to catch back up and list the books I have read since the last time. Here we go:

15. Lamb

This book was awesome! It is a book the childhood adventures of Jesus and his best buddy Biff. It is funny, touching, well written and very entertaining. I would certainly recommend this one.

16. Word Freak

This book was on a list of the my favorite sports writer’s list of top sports books. It is a behind the scenes look at the world of competitive Scrabble. I have been trying to read books about a wide array of subjects to keep myself well rounded, so having known nothing of competitive Scrabble I decided to give this a shot. It was pretty entertaining, especially learning about the people who are the best in the world playing Scrabble. They are all weirdos and maybe geniuses. At times this one got a little boring when there were long sections about the weird words only used at the highest levels of this “sport”. The author could have touched on a few of them, but not every single one! Overall this was a pretty good read.

17. The Geography of Bliss

This was about the author’s journey to find the happiest places on Earth. I knew I would like this because it involved traveling. It was interesting what he found that made people happier than others. It is not what you would think and you might be surprised when you find out who some of the happiest people on Earth are. Good book!

18. Forever War

This started a string of three book about the Iraq war. This one is by Dexter Filkins and it is an account of his time spent in Afghanistan but mostly Iraq. He gives a very detailed description of what it is like to be a soldier in Iraq, a reporter in Iraq and a citizen of war torn Iraq. It is pretty brutal. I have always been against the invasion in Iraq and this book made me even more pissed about the whole thing. It is a horrible situation for everyone involved (except the people getting rich off of it I guess…assholes!). If you can stomach the grizzly details then this is a great and informative read.

19. Generation Kill

This is another first person account by the author embedded in Iraq. The author, Evan Wright, goes along with a group of Recon soldiers as they prepare to and become the lead group in the invasion of Iraq. It is a very good look at the mentality of the soldiers who were asked to do some horrible things and for no real apparent reason. It really details how unprepared and unplanned the whole invasion was. Again, if you can stomach some very gruesome details it is a good read. It will probably piss you off though, so be prepared for that.

20. Big Boy Rules: American Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq

This one will really piss you off! Again, the author is embedded in Iraq, but this time he rides along with paid mercenaries, or “Security Companies” as they storm around Iraq doing anything they want to anyone they want without any repercussions while they are paid exorbitant amounts by our government. These trigger happy, money grubbing meat heads apparently do nothing to help the cause of making Iraq livable again, but only make it worse and supposedly they are on our side. After reading this third book about the war over there I decided that was enough because it is just so frustrating to learn how fucked up things are over there. Maybe things were bad before we invaded, but we have just made it worse. Such a shitty situation!

21. Ball Four

This book sounded really interesting, a tell all behind the scenes book written by an ex-Yankee pitcher. Well, it wasn’t very interesting. I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe had it been written about a modern team, like it Derek Jeter came out with a Yankee tell all book now, I would have been more into it.

22. The Book of Basketball

Written by Bill Simmons, my favorite sports writer, this is a everything you needed to know and didn’t need to know about the history of the NBA. I love the NBA and you pretty much have to to like this book or even finish it (it is over 700 pages long). I couldn’t put it down. He ranks players, teams, re does the hall of, goes through every season, along with all kinds of other interesting NBA stuff. And he is funny, very funny. This book was awesome. I recommend it only to other fans of the NBA though and I don’t know many.

23. A Long Way Down

I was going to be in London so I wanted to read a book set in London. This is the one I choose and I am glad I did. About 4 people that don’t know each other, that go to the same spot, on the same night, to throw themselves off a building.It was funny at times, sad at times and always entertaining. I would recommend this book and I plan on reading more Nick Hornby books soon.

24. One Day

I was in the airport in Dusseldorf about to board a plane to New York city and I realized I didn’t have a book to read. I ran to the book shop, found the tiny section of English language book and just grabbed this one. I noticed on the front cover Nick Hornby gave it a good review so I went with it. I had no idea what it was about even. Well, I didn’t put it down the entire 9 hour flight. It about two people that meet in college one night and then every chapter is that same day but one year later. I think it was a really cool way to tell how their relationship developed over those 20 years. This might be the best book have read this year. Maybe because I was trapped on a plane for 9 hours it seemed really good, like when you are super hungry everything tastes awesome, but I loved it! Read it.

25. Friday Night Lights

I had always heard how good the movie was and how amazing the TV show was so I decided to read the book that started it. Books are always better anyway. This was pretty interesting most of the time, but also boring occasionally. Sometimes I just didn’t care about the players or their families and just wanted to see if they won their next game. It was well written, but just didn’t hold my interest that well. Maybe I will watch the movie now, but probably not the TV show…I have more books I need to read!

Well, there were a couple of others that I can’t remember but If I do, I will add them. Right now I am halfway through The Last Lecture, which was recommended by multiple friends, and so far it has the potential to challenge for best book of the year.

You know, I should do a blog at the end of the year and give out different book awards!! I am going to. So look forward to that! Ok, back to hoping it snows a ton tonight 🙂 Later